Beatlemania LIVE! at JunglePlex Friday

Wednesday

When the ever-jovial Paul McCartney came up with this silly little song, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, the ever-not-so-jolly John Lennon rolled his eyes. Even George Harrison hated it.

When the ever-jovial Paul McCartney came up with this silly little song, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, the ever-not-so-jolly John Lennon rolled his eyes. Even George Harrison hated it.

Was Paul kidding? Was he high?

They were making the White Album, after all. Their manager, Brian Epstein, also known as the fifth Beatle, had died the year before and now Paul had written a song called Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da?

But they tried to be nice about it.
So, the band practiced it. And practiced. And practiced.

Paul still wasn’t quite satisfied; it still needed something.

John was leagues from satisfied.

He and George informed Paul the song was terrible and as good as it was going to get.

Then John snapped and stormed out, saying he was sick of the “silly song,” sick of this “grandma music.”

He returned four hours later, high as a kite.

“I am more stoned than any of you have ever been or will be,” he announced to his fellow Beatles. “This is how this piece of …(well, you get the drift)…should go.”

Lennon sat down at the piano and they recorded Ob-La-De, Ob-La-Da the way it was meant to be.

Pretty cool grandma music.

Steve Sheffermen relates this story from his home in New Jersey. He’s been playing John Lennon in the tribute band Beatlemania-LIVE! for years and is a walking Beatles encyclopedia. He knows all the history cold and has become an expert on Lennon.

Sheffermen and Beatlemania-LIVE! come to Plymouth’s JunglePlex at 8 p.m., this Friday, May 2. This internationally famous tribute band recreates the sounds and sights of the world’s most popular group. The show features three full costume changes as Beatlemania-LIVE! revisits each Beatle era – the early days, the hippie days, Sgt. Peppers and the Abbey Road period.

Loretta Laroche Productions is the engine behind the show, bringing Beatlmania-LIVE to JunglePlex at 5 Natalie Way, off Long Pond Road near Shops at 5. The JunglePlex offers $20 chair and $15 bleacher seating, and audience members can also bring a blanket and sit on the indoor lawn for $15. Gold circle seats in the first two rows are available for $40. Loretta Laroche Productions will also hold a silent auction and raffle the night of the concert to raise money for the Plymouth North High School wrestling program.

Purchase tickets at the JunglePlex complex, the Loretta Laroche Productions box office at 50 Court St., online at www.projectwow.com, by calling 508-747-1340 and at FYE stores.

The show never gets old for Sheffermen and his fellow tribute band members.

“I try to give an interpretation of the essence of the guy,” Sheffermen said. “The way you do that is by studying what he said and what he did.”

After years of research, Sheffermen has come to the conclusion that, like a lot of bands, the Beatles were a band of brothers, so to speak. And, sometimes, Sheffermen has trouble turning John off when the show is over. It’s not quite an identity crisis, but it can be unnerving, he said.

“Sometimes it’s not cool,” he added. “I happen to be playing the guy who was the real jerk of the group. He was a real volatile, powerful personality, the kind of guy that comes into a room and takes over – a very charismatic and unhappy man. He also could be loving and kind. He was a real guy who was made emperor when he was 23 years old.”

The source of Lennon’s angst was more than likely his tragic childhood, Sheffermen said. Lennon was raised by his aunt; his mother lived down the street; his father was a sailor and was never around. Lennon bonded with his uncle, who died of a heart attack when John was still a child. Then, when John was 15 and beginning to connect with his mother, she was killed by a drunk driver. He was 21 when he his best friend and original Beatles bassist, Stuart Sutcliffe, died of an aneurysm.

In short, Lennon’s darkness had a source, just as McCartney’s lightness did. The combination of the two was genius.

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